From Fiddlers To Franklin: The Showbiz Dilemma

[Commentary] The entertainment industry today is caught in a kind of purgatory, somewhere between Zero Mostel and Franklin Roosevelt. It's an odd place to be, and not sustainable to be there for much longer.

From Mostel, comes the line, "Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as... as... as a fiddler on the roof!" from the play, "Fiddler on the Roof." The industry respects, and clings to, its traditions. It is simply trying to scratch out a simple living without breaking its neck, and because of its traditions, the industry has more or less kept its balance for many years. Even so, the industry's lives are becoming increasingly shaky and the balancing act more precarious. In the face of ever-changing audiences and environments, the industry has maintained the never-faltering tradition of steadfast opposition to any technological change whatsoever that would disrupt their business -- even if it eventually profits from those changes. Rather than see technology as an opportunity, the industry always sees it as a threat. Bloomberg BusinessWeek broke the story of the latest chapter in a long saga, as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) admitted it feared the arrival of Google’s high-speed network in Kansas City.

The entertainment industry should no longer fear technological change. It should no longer cling to a precarious balance on the roof of an industrial structure constructed long ago. It's time to look on technology as an opportunity, and to conquer its fear of the unknown.